Harpoon Brewery Constructing New $1 Million Beer Hall

With nearly 2,000 visitors passing through Boston’s Harpoon Brewery on a weekly basis, the company decided its tasting room, built in 1987, could no longer accommodate the high volume of guests and needed a facelift.

So the brewery decided to invest more than $1 million into a new 6,000 sq. ft. beer hall and visitor center, scheduled to open in mid-February. The space will be capable of serving roughly 250 people via its 20 draught lines.

“This expansion will enable us to welcome visitors and give them a more complete, communal experience,” said company spokeswoman Liz Melby.

The brewery is currently in the process of obtaining the proper permits allowing it to sell beer, but Charlie Storey, the company’s VP of marketing, said a pint will most likely fetch around $6. Guests will also be able to take home any of the Harpoon beers on tap. A state-of-the-art growler filling unit — produced by the Austrian company Alfred Gruber GmbH — will also be installed. Storey said the unit will be capable of filling any of the 20 beers on draught and is similar to one already in use at Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, Penn.

Harpoon is also erecting a series of catwalks throughout the brewery so that tour-goers will be able to get a “birds-eye” view of brewing operations.

The beer hall is part of a much larger brewery expansion project which includes new equipment purchases and brewery renovations. According to Boston Business Journal, Harpoon secured $3.5 million in financing from RBS Citizens in April for the two projects.

Harpoon was started in 1986 by Dan Kenary, Rich Doyle, and George Ligeti. They were three friends who loved beer and loved drinking beer together but found the beer choices at the time to be limited....